Emil Gilels lovers, be on high alert: Gilels playing Scarlatti! This rare
combination is, so far as I know, only to be had on one other disc, a BBC
Legends live recital from the early 1980s. Here we have Gilels playing the
same Scarlatti sonatas, but in the mid-1950s, in really pretty good sound
for the era, excellently restored. Gilels’ Scarlatti is magical: pianistic
in its drama and color, but classical in its tempo and clarity. To achieve
piano nirvana, compare Gilels’ B minor sonata K27 to Yevgeny Sudbin’s,
or the E major K380 performances of Gilels, Pletnev,
Bjelland,
Tharaud,
and Lipatti. Am I saying Gilels’ Scarlatti is worthy of comparison with
these greats? Yes, yes I am. The opening measures of K380 make an indelible
impression with their evocation of tolling bells, and the rest has an enviable
fluidity and natural clarity; the B minor has poetry and expansiveness, though
not as radical as Sudbin’s.

The rest of the disc is fantastic too. The Liszt fantasia on Le nozze de
Figaro (completed by Busoni) showcases Gilels’ trademark combination
of bravura and good taste: he doesn’t barnstorm through but shapes the
piece as a truly operatic fantasy. He doesn’t even burn through the
two Paganini etudes, although I have to say his low-key approach cannot reclaim
the musical value of the ‘La campanella’ etude from decades of
self-aggrandizing virtuosi who have hijacked it in the decades since. His
Hungarian Rhapsodies (6 and 9) are very good, even if they don’t knock
your jaw clean to the floor. There are a couple technical slips, but mostly
I can’t say his rhapsodies are better than, say, Jando’s. Little
surprise to find that he hardly ever played them again.

The Chopin’s another story again: the two polonaises are in noble, gallant
readings, with the legendary ‘Heroic’ Op 53 showcasing Gilels’
command of the epic and care over detail at once. The Ballade is excellently
done, with real poetry and gentleness when called for but a powerfully angry
final minute (those haunting quiet chords in the coda are excellently rendered).
It rounds out a generous 80 minutes of fascinating playing.

Ward Marston’s sound restoration is heroic as always. The Scarlatti,
from a 1955 Melodiya LP, sounds genuinely good, as does ‘Pesther Carnaval’;
on the other hand, the final two Chopin selections are a bit constricted in
piano tone and the Mozart/Liszt/Busoni fantasy is in sadly primitive shape.
Hisses and pops are gone or reduced, but without any loss in presence for
the piano itself, which is a relief; the only hint of extraneous noise aside
from the Mozart/Liszt/Busoni is at the end of the last track. The booklet
notes don’t discuss the music much, but are very helpful to Gilels collectors
and others interested in the provenance of the recordings. For casual listeners,
the rewards of these excellent recordings are to be had in the hearing.